Mining companies are often accused of being run these days by bean counters, but indications are that Australian mid-tier miner IGO took a moral and ethical stance in deciding to reset its Cosmos nickel project in Western Australia, as well as the well-documented A$900 million-plus accounting hit. At least that’s one take on industry veteran Chris Carr’s presentation at a Perth mining forum.
Carr, IGO’s head of technical services, was speaking at an Austmine Mining Innovation Roadshow event.
And he was talking in largely technical, not financial, terms about the challenges of developing a reasonably large-scale underground nickel mine in a period when standard equipment delivery delays and cost escalation have been compounded by fundamental shifts in technology development and commercialisation.
Countless mining company leaders speaking at industry events this year have mentioned difficulties translating this conundrum into suitable financial market-speak. They’ve suggested reception tends to improve when they’re sitting around the table with so-called green finance lending types.
